BROCKTON – A train engineer stopped an incoming train from hitting the man, who was knocked unconscious on the train tracks Saturday night.

Police say they’ve charged 41-year-old Daniel Sheehan of Carver with assault to murder and assault and battery after a fight near the Brockton Commuter Rail station that propelled the victim, a 48-year-old Brockton man, onto the tracks Saturday night.

Police Lt. William Hallisey said the train, which was traveling inbound to Boston, stopped about 100 feet short of hitting the man as he lay unconscious on the tracks at the Brockton train station, which is right next to the police station on Commercial Street.

“I’ve never seen anything like it,” said Hallisey, who responded to the scene. “For 100 feet, it’s pretty close for a train with that kind of speed.”

Shortly before 9 p.m. Saturday, officers Tom Robinson and Gary Bartorelli, who were inside the police station lobby, noticed some commotion on the train platform, Hallisey said.

“There were people on the platform running down to try to stop the train. They were jumping up and down,” Hallisey said.

Hallisey was among officers who ran outside and down the side of a fence to get to the train platform “and tried to flag down the train.”

The train engineer told police he saw several people jumping up and down and “he applied the brakes early so the train would stop before they got to the station,” Hallisey said.

“Just like in the movies, he was right across the tracks,” he said of the victim.

Minutes earlier, witnesses told police they saw Sheehan fighting with the victim. Witnesses told officers that Sheehan swung first but missed, and the victim tried to push Sheehan away and he missed as well.

Sheehan “punched the victim square in the face, sending him off the platform, and causing him to hit his head on one of the metal rails on the train tracks,” Hallisey said, recounting witness statements to police.

The victim was knocked unconscious. About six to eight people then began jumping up and down to get the inbound train to stop, he said.

The unidentified victim, who suffered a large welt on the back of his head, was sent to a local hospital, Hallisey said. His condition was not known Sunday.

Hallisey said he had prepared for the worst when he ran to the scene. Officers heard the train sounding and they saw the red lights flashing, signaling an incoming train.

“He’s a real lucky guy,” he said of the victim. “The people who walked up on the platform, they had the sense to start waving their hands to stop the train.”

Page 2 of 2 - Sheehan, who is being held in a Plymouth jail, was scheduled to be arraigned Tuesday in Brockton District Court.

Maria Papadopoulos may be reached at mpapa@enterprisenews.com or follow on Twitter @MariaP_ENT.